The Authors’ Shelf: Taylor Saville

Taylor Saville has been writing stories most of her life, and while Jagged Mind is not her first novel, it is the first novel she has chosen to publish. It was heavily inspired by her interest in psychology, empathy, and redemption, though her fascination with metal music and concerts was a large source of inspiration as well. She is now preparing to release the first book in her new fantasy trilogy. Her husband, a professional artist, creates the artwork for all of her covers.

What made you want to write?

From the time I could read I’ve loved books. I was always the first to finish a book for school assignments and read many other books on my own time. I was fascinated by the idea of creating my own story, and started writing at an early age as well. Though the moment I decided I wanted to be an author was when I was around eleven years old and read “The Hero and the Crown” by Robin McKinley. That novel had a profound impact on me, and it was shortly after reading it that I began to create my own fantasy world which still exists to this day. In fact, the first in my fantasy trilogy will be released this year!

What is your favourite book to date?

My favorite books to date have to be those in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve read them all more than once and am just as captivated every time. I consider it to be the greatest masterpiece in all of literature. It defines “fantasy” and shaped the genre as we know it. Nothing else compares for me. Though a second, honorable mention has to be All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. Few books have made me cry as hard as that one did.

What was your favourite book growing up?

I remember the first book to really fascinate me was White Fang by Jack London. I was around seven years old when I first read it. Reading it now as an adult, I realize I didn’t fully grasp everything that novel was about. It isn’t a novel for children, as it actually deals with the harshness of survival. It’s a beautiful story.

Your first book: where were you when the idea came to you?

My first novel was an unpublished war novel I wrote at seventeen. I got the idea after deciding I wasn’t going to join the army after months of preparation to do so. I decided it wasn’t the life meant for me, and so I put my despair over that decision into a novel. I was actually jogging when the idea fully came to me. Though my first published novel is a very different story.

When the idea for Jagged Mind came to me I was literally using a carpet extractor to clean up blood in a rehab facility. I worked as a housekeeper back then. I remember being struck by this character, so potently that I had to temporarily abandon what I was doing to write the first few pages in a notebook. He haunted my mind ever since that moment. He still does, even though the novel is finished. I don’t really know where he came from, but he came to me with a name and a story, and I knew I had to tell it no matter what.

Where is your ideal writing space?

My ideal writing space is clean, organized, well lit, and quiet. I don’t like distractions, other than my chosen music for inspiration. My desk is normally very blank, with only my computer, a set of headphones, a cup of coffee, and a proof copy of the book I’m currently editing. Nothing else.

If you were to go to any library or bookstore in the world, where would you go?

I would visit the Baroque Library Hall at the Clementinum in Prague. It just looks absolutely magical, and the history there is fascinating. I can’t really imagine being somewhere so incredibly beautiful and old. That’s probably a really common answer!

If you were to find someone reading your book anywhere, where would it be?

For Jagged Mind, I imagine someone reading it alone in some secluded corner of the world. It’s about swimming through those dark depths of the mind. It’s not really a book to read in a coffee shop or on a sunny college campus, but one certainly could!

What do you love about reading and/or writing the most?

What I love about reading is the ability to traverse worlds, lives, and events that don’t really exist. The human mind is capable of creating entirely new worlds, worlds we can become just as attached to as our own, and that’s the beauty of storytelling to me.

Writing is a different entity entirely for me. What I love most about writing, more than anything else, is the deep, intimate connection I have with my characters. I love them as I would love real people, and when I feel that jittery excitement about writing a new story it’s because I’ve fallen in love with the characters, and can’t wait to spend more time with them. So in that sense, writing books is purely a labor of love for me. It’s something I do because I adore every second of it. It never feels like work, it feels like a privilege. One I never want to take for granted.